DEA commits to SA reporting

South Africa has committed itself to an environmentally-sustainable mandate – but it’s impossible to fulfil unless all stakeholders are clear about where the country is coming from and what result it is aiming for.

Directions and goals for companies, institutions and individuals will be spelled out the National Climate Change Response Policy (NCCRP) currently under development for the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA).

Dr Brian Mantlana heads up the DEA’s climate change branch, which was set up in May 2010.

“After CoP17, our core mandate was the implementation of a climate change white paper,” he explains. “It’s important to realise that there isn’t a vacuum around climate change – there is a lot of work going on, and the DEA is trying to co-ordinate it.”

The NCCRP white paper will contain a number of key deliverables, Mantlana says. These include:

* Adaptation – establish a monitoring system for gathering information and a reporting programme on the implementation of adaptive actions, and to assess the effectiveness of adaptation responses;

* Mitigation – collect, analyse and report data to monitor the outcome of specific mitigation actions and to monitor the collective outcome of all mitigation actions;

* Flagship programmes – to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of near-term flagship programmes using an annual reporting process; and

He explains that this system will be made up of a database that will include details on project owners and implementers and research institutions, as well as local and national government and civil society. The database will also include a greenhouse gas inventory consisting of inputs from companies, installations and municipalities, which will deal with emission at company and installation level.

The DEA will be able to leverage this information to produce national and international communications; produce a biennial report for international consumption; and create an annual report for domestic monitoring.

The department is currently working on a number of intermediate deliverables, including a monitoring system for gathering information and reporting progress on the implementation of mitigation and adaptation actions.

The DEA is also finalising a draft of South Africa’s climate change response; and is drafting the first biennial update report and third national communication.

Getting the database up and running will be a massive task, and one that the DEA plans to implement in stages.

The finished product will contain information on new mitigation and adaptation initiatives not already reported on. As part of this exercise, the DEA will identify research that has been undertaken since 2000 that focusses on climate change mitigation and adaption. This is close to completion, Mantlana says.

The department will also identify flagship projects relating to mitigation and adaptation that have a clearly defined plan for implementation and are ready to be implemented.

In addition, it will design and develop climate change monitoring and evaluation systems, which will describe inputs and outputs for the system.

Mapping the information required for the database should be completed by October 2013, Mantlana says, at which point the department can start work on determining verification imperatives.

In the meantime, the DEA is busy drafting of the third national communication and the biennial update report that needs to be submitted to the UN. This will be completed by December 2014, and includes information on mitigation programmes up to the end of 2012